McCain Streaking Conservatism?
April 15, 2008 · Print This Article
Are You Sitting Down?
The same man who drew up the Shamnesty bill behind closed doors, the same man who thinks the Second Amendment doesn’t mean what it says, the same man who STILL believes the incumbent protection attachment he sponsored with the soft money limitation bill ( McCain-Feingold ) doesn’t adversely affect our First Amendment speech 60 days prior to an election, the same man who wants to close Gitmo giving terrorists the same rights that citizens have ( All right, I could keep going on like this for quite awhile but, you get the idea. ) has actually adopted Fred Thompson’s optional “Flat” tax plan!
No, I didn’t dare hope he had that much common sense either, I just kept the thought tucked away in the pin-head-sized liberal area of my brain that I never use anyway.
When Fred Thompson offered his optional Flat tax plan ( when page opens click on the words ‘Fair vs. Flat’ and video clip will start ) the main stream media hardly breathed a word of it as they fearfully knew conservative policies that work would certainly unite the entire republican base…well, their tactics of spin and nonreporting worked but, his principles, values, plans and policies could very well live on if this streak of conservatism lasts a little while longer in McCain to get out of this huge mess we’re in.
Of course, lets hope McCain isn’t merely streaking us a flash of conservatism to get us to watch him just long enough to take the oath.
John McCain had better get past the idea that conservatives have nowhere to go. If he doesn’t conservatives will wake up on the first Tuesday following the first Monday in November thinking they HAVE NO WHERE TO GO, NOTHING TO DO.
Sen. McCain is in serious need of a history lesson. Particular history, like the November Presidential elections of 1976, 1992, 2000 and 2004.
He has to seriously study the very narrow margins in each of these elections, and he needs to realize how very few people it takes to change the outcome of an election and history.
It simply doesn’t take that many people to change an election outcome. He needs to pay particular attention to th election of 2004. To the State of Ohio and the less than a 1/4 million people who determined the outcome of that 2004 Presidential election.
Sen. McCain needs every single conservative he can get to actually go to the polls and vote for him in November. Up until now, he hasn’t given them much reason to do so.
Sen. McCain’s mother said that she “…guessed we all just have to hold our noses and vote for John.” I’ve got bad news for Mrs. McCain, I missed that billboard and I was asleep in Civics class that day 38 years ago when they taught us how to be “Good Republicans.”
Sen.McCain is the candidate of the Republican Party. Its the candidates job to give us a reason to go out and vote for him.
“Look at me. I’m not as bad as those other two.” Ain’t going to cut the mustard, not in 2008. Its time for Sen. McCain to forge a covenant with conservatives. To give them a reason to vote, to motivate them to elect him the 44th President of the United States.
Your point is well taken but I think it’s important to remember the adage: “the perfect is the enemy of the good”. We will have to be vigilant with a President McCain as his sins against conservative orthodoxy are many, but given the alternatives I’m absolutely giddy to vote for the man.
Hopefully he won’t take conservative support for granted either in the Fall or going forward. If he does he’s likely to get a nasty surprise. On the other hand conservatives need to realize we’re not going to get everything we want out of a McCain Presidency (Just like we didn’t get everything we wanted during the Nixon, Reagan, Bush I, and Bush II Administrations). Hubert Humphrey once said “Politics is the art of the possible”. I love that quote. It reminds us that just because WE know the country will be better off with a flat tax or school choice sometimes you have to settle for half a loaf. The important thing is to push the debate in your direction long term.
Nice Blog by the way.
All the best,
Mike Stajduhar
Mike, your choice of words and offered direction are from a man who has done his homework…unfortunately, that’s a rare thing to witness these days as we’ve seen in this very election.
Thanks for stopping by and don’t be a stranger.